Patrick Bruin – IKEA

Patrick Bruin is owner and external consultant at MIC (Marketing & Insights Consultancy) and works as interim manager and consultant for big companies to assess customer needs and advise organisations to become more customer-centric through the use of insights. For the last two years, he has worked as Project Leader (a.i.) for IKEA. Before that, Patrick worked for brands like Heineken, DSM and KPN. Next to that, Patrick is part of the House of Insights, a partnership of experienced insights people who work together on articles and presentations, most recently at Esomar to talk about the future of brand health tracking.

Main KPIs for brand growth

At IKEA, Patrick managed several global projects: “My first project focused on IKEA’s brand capital, which is about the strength of the brand and how we can improve that. Brand Capital focuses on the brand funnel, awareness among the target group, consideration, purchase intent, visitation and the actual purchase. Not just for IKEA, but also its largest competitors, both global and local. Both in-store and online are measured extensively, especially the latter has become much more important these past 1,5 years. At a time when most of their stores worldwide were closed, online had to take over. So, we started working on that and improved the online environment and process very quickly to ensure that people who wanted to buy something could do it online. It didn’t make up for the loss of sales we suffered in those first six months of covid, but it did alleviate it enormously.”

Next to their main KPIs, Patrick shares that IKEA sketched out a strategy document called ‘Three Roads Forward’ in 2018, which outlines the furniture group’s future direction towards 2025. The three roads focus on accessibility, sustainability and affordability: how easily people can access the products, the effects those products have on the environment, and how affordable the products are. Patrick: “For us in Europe, IKEA is considered as a value for money brand, but in other countries, e.g. in Asia and South America, that is very much aspirational. Not everyone can afford to buy at IKEA. So, we are looking at how we can reach the people in countries where IKEA isn’t considered as affordable, interact with them and communicate with them. Ultimately, we want to create a positive impact.”

“Being data-driven is very important, but being consumer-driven must come first.”

consumer-driven

When it comes to Patrick’s main driver of growth, he believes that consumer behaviour is key: “Getting those insights what the consumer wants and acting upon that, that is the biggest driver of growth. Looking at IKEA, those three roads are the most important driver as it touches the heart of consumers, which in turn creates sustainable growth and something that people want to be part of. It is more than just looking at market share and how many people visit the store. Being data-driven is very important, but I think that being consumer-driven must come first.”

“I can imagine that some people make decisions on gut feel, but I have been in the industry long enough to know that being insight- or data-driven is key”, Patrick continues. “Whatever you do, you need to put the consumer at the heart of it. Whether it is about communication, purchase motives, anything that can influence the decision. IKEA is currently undergoing a business transformation towards being more agile and data-driven. The IKEA Consumer and Market Insights department (ICMI) are the frontrunners and the rest of the organisation, over 200,000 employees, are looking at their progress. Are they achieving more success, can they get the right insights to the right team at the right moment in the right format? This digital transformation is very important and being discussed at the top of the organisation.”

“Data shouldn’t overwhelm you. It needs to be structured and made available to those who are interested in it.”

a PENETRATING discovery

So, what makes a good insight? According to Patrick: “An insight is a penetrating discovery about the consumer’s behaviour or motivations applied to unlock growth. It needs to be a decisive discovery on consumer behaviour, an understanding that you didn’t have before, but one you can apply to your business so you can do something new, better or differently. One thing to keep in mind is that data shouldn’t overwhelm you. It needs to be structured and made available to those who are interested in it. You don’t need to share all the data with everyone, as it will just cause resistance. Find a way where all the data stays underneath the car bonnet so people who aren’t interested don’t need to look under there. They will look at the display, checking their speed and when the car’s battery has run low and they need to find a charging station. For most people, that’s enough. They don’t need to know the ins and outs, they just want to keep track of how things are going. You and I find research and insights to be extremely interesting, but many people don’t care as much, and that is something we tend to forget. Try to make the data understandable for the right target audience, with the right information at the right time in the right format.”

handling resistance

Talking about challenges, Patrick shares how it is difficult to get the whole organisation on board: “The ICMI within IKEA works together with many different departments and teams and their insights and learnings are available to everyone within the company. There is an open culture and everyone embraces the transformation. However, that isn’t always the case. Within IKEA, the customer is at the basis of their entire way of working, but I have come across companies where there has been resistance. People rely on their experience and gut feel instead of data, but with that comes the risk of failure. When you don’t extensively test and just rely on what you think is right, you risk making mistakes that can cost a lot of money. Something I always say in my workshops is that when you go into a transformation process it will cost you more time and money in the beginning, but you will notice the success rate going up and the failure rate going down very quickly. After a while, it will start working for you and will bring you success in the long term.”

analytics translator

Looking ahead, Patrick believes that the industry will become more and more digital: “The consumer will remain of great importance and the insights around that are key, but the market is becoming increasingly digital. It goes hand in hand. I believe that the insights manager of the future will be more of an analytics translator. They don’t need to know everything about BI, AI or machine learning, but they do need to know the possibilities if they want to manage the experts in their team and get the most out of them. It will be crucial for them to translate those insights in a way that the CEO and the CMO understand them. The industry will become more digital, but you need to make sure you continue to grasp the key points and know how to convey them to the right target group.”